Wisdom on 31 December 2012

Here is a message from my friend C.P. this morning, words of wisdom on my entering a new phase of life in retirement. Thank you C.P.

To invent the life you want to have rather than the life someone says you must have. It takes time.

And on this note here is the year in photos, not a bad year at all, lots of travelling in Europe throughout the year and then retirement, with photos of the actual site where the decision was made.

The first month of the year was the usual blah, mild winter and not much happening, work was not that interesting and by March I decided it was time to return to Rome and consulted friends to see what was going on in the Eternal City.

The two domes of the Churches in Piazza del Popolo as seen from the Belvedere of Villa Borghese.

I also had my birthday in Rome with friends at a lovely luncheon in Capena just a few minutes outside the Città.

Cake was Linda's creation and it is not on fire.

Because March is Artichoke season, she also made Stuffed Artichoke Roman Style. A favourite of mine.

Now I did walk a lot in Rome, something I truly enjoy doing, the City is built like a theatre set and anywhere you look there is always something to attract your eyes.

Looking down this street that morning in March I was just waiting around for Nancy de C. to start one of her private tours of the Convent at Trinita dei Monti, top of the Spanish stairs. So I was just looking down the street, Via Sistina, this would be around 9:55 am and if you look all the way you can see at the other end the steeple of Santa Maria Maggiore. The street changes names twice before you arrive at the other end, to Via Quattro Fontane and then to Via Agostino DePretis. It was busy that morning like all morning in Rome are and I do not know why, but a little voice told me, you know retiring would not be such a bad thing after all, you had a wonderful career. Rome and it's sunlight can inspire.
That is when I decided that I would retire by year end.

Vincent Lam in Ottawa at Fraser Café at the launch of his bestseller book, The Headmaster's Wager. During the Ottawa Writers Festival. A wonderful book to read. Vincent is a writer but also a E.R. doctor at Toronto.

In early May we had the annual Tulip Festival in commemoration of the Royal Family of the Netherlands who spent the Second World War in Ottawa. Carpets of  tulips everywhere in city parks can be seen, beautiful.

Nicholas and Nora in the morning after breakfast, a little snooze.

Of course this year was the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. The Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in June in Canada.

Then in June we went on our cruise with AZAMARA from Amsterdam to Hamburg to Copenhagen, to the Island of Ronen and on to Helsinki, St-Petersburg and Tallinn finally arriving in Stockholm.

From Kevin M. apartment and B&B beautiful view. We also met M.J. in Amsterdam.

Before coffee in the morning in a lovely café just down the street from our B& B.

Copenhagen Palace Square in the morning.

We then sailed to a small island of Ronen to see smoke houses where fish is smoked like herring. It is very fresh and delicious with a glass of wine.

 A very traditional method of preparing and preserving fish and it was very interesting to see. Such a lovely small island, very green, a beautiful picture of Scandinavia.

 We then sailed on to Helsinki, a beautiful small Capital, friendly people and wonderful pastries.
The excitement was building as we were now approaching Imperial St-Petersburg the city built by Peter the Great, what a jewel and thanks to massive renovations by Vladimir Putin, the city once again shines on the Baltic.

Here we are across from the Winter Palace by the Sphinx on University Embankment. If you touch the Sphinx you are likely to return to St-Petersburg. I wish we could have stayed at least one more day, two days was simply not enough for this magnificent city.

Our last stop was Stockholm, which for Will meant going to Drottningholm (Queen's Palace) to see the famous 17th century theatre. He waited almost all his life to see it and I had heard of it for the last 35 years, so the expectation was great. We were not disappointed, it was magical, to be able to step back in this perfectly preserved small theatre.

My favourite photo of 2012, Will at the entrance to the Royal Park, he was so excited, like a little kid.
Of course Sydd appears in the photo, he accompanied us throughout the trip.

 Talk of green environment in Stockholm Harbour.

But this was not all for my travelling, in the Fall I went for a few days to London to see friends. Wonderful visit and how nice to see the City with a lot less tourists. Staying with C. in the Marylebone area near Selfridge's on Baker street.

 The West facade of St-Paul's Convent Garden, Market area, known as the Actor's Church built by Inigo Jones in 1633. A beautiful Church well worth a visit.

How many times in my career, Will and I said this, so true and it continues to be.

December, the first snow in Ottawa. We have had so far more snow in December 2012 than in the entire winter of 2011. It promises.

On the 29 December, the retirement party with a few friends at home.

and the year ends, on with the new......

It's -22 C. on this photo, Happy New Year to All!

Friday in Amsterdam

 

We got up around 8 am and watched the city in the early morning. Shops open around 10 and 11 am, so it is relatively quiet until then. We walked around the canals and discovered that each canal in a half moon and the name of the canal represent the class of people who live on and around the area. Per example Prinzen Gracht is for lower middle-class people, Keizers Gracht is middle to upper class merchants, Heren Gracht is the wealthy upper class, the Heren were the Watchmen of the City and you had to be rich to do guard duty because of the cost of armour and weapons, etc... Civic duty placed those citizens of the city at the forefront. They paid for the militia and deputies who did the watching for them.

Detail of a larger painting representing the Heren or the city watchmen, see the wealth of their clothes.

We also discovered that the name of the city was a composition of the name of the Amstel river and Dam which is the central point of the city itself. The Royal Family, House of Orange lives in the capital The Hague which is merely minutes away from Amsterdam. The royals do not own any of the Palaces, they are put at their disposal by the people and the Government.

Royal Palace in Amsterdam on the Dam (main square).

Amsterdam is a city of about 790,000 people, smaller than Ottawa but with a far superior and more developed public transport system than anything we can dream of back home. We saw hundreds of people riding their bikes throughout the city, we have been told many times to be careful to look both ways before crossing any streets, bikes have the right of way.

We had the most beautiful boat ride around the city and we gained a better understanding of the urban plan of Amsterdam and had a good look at the architecture, most, if not all of it, dates from the golden age of The Netherlands as a commercial shipping and trade magnet between Asia and Europe 1600 and 1790.

The houses are tall often 4 to 5 floors, but the frontage is narrow, some less then 2 meter wide at the front. Taxation on a property was calculated on the width of your property at the front street side. So many houses are very narrow at the front but much wider at the back. Similar to what we saw in Vietnam a few years ago.

As early as 1520 the Dutch traded in spices, rare cloth and other precious items. Their main competitors at the time was Portugal. Some of those spices like clove came from Malacca and was extremely expensive. The Dutch also raided the Spanish fleet transporting the Silver from the Americas annually to Spain. These raids were done on orders from the West Indies Company whose board resided and operated from Amsterdam and coveted the silver for the companies fortune and stock holders greater joy. One such raid brought in the equivalent if compared with today, of 500 billion Euros in silver ingots, a phenomenal sum of money then and now. 

Spain had been the colonial master of The Netherlands for many centuries, the Dutch revolted under the leadership of the Prince of Orange and rid themselves of the Spanish Regents. It happened at the same time as Calvin and his brand of Protestantism was gaining popularity. Catholic churches were seen as the power base of Spain, they were taken over and altered to meet the new Protestant standard. We visited several Calvinist churches in Amsterdam and they have no decoration inside, no statues, no Altar and no crosses. Only a pulpit to preach the gospel and an organ for music.

Wester Kerk on the Prinzen Gracht

Amsterdam was an very rich commercial city and due to international trade, developed rapidly during those years, what we see today is the result of this wealth.

We then walked to the Rijksmuseum, currently under renovation until 2013. However the great masters and other works of art can be viewed. Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Ruisdael, etc are on view, reflecting the views and taste of their wealthy patrons who sought portraits of themselves and their families, often in a very familiar setting of every day life, though dressed in their most expensive clothes and jewellery.

An interesting fact on Rembrandt was that he died a pauper despite the fact that he became quite wealthy during his life but he wasted his money on various curios, so much so that when he declared bankruptcy the bailiff made a list of all these many objects for sale, it makes for interesting reading. Rembrandt is buried in the Wester Kerk, the one with the blue imperial Crown at top of its steeple. But no one is sure where exactly his remains are in the church floor, his wife and son Titus are also buried there in marked graves. The church is next door to the Anne Frank House but we did not go in, the lines and wait times were impossible and the house is quite small.

We returned home a little tired but on such a beautiful sunny day it is a pleasure to walk along the canals of this city.

The Netherlands

 

Once we entered the Low Countries you notice right away how flat the entire place is, canals here and there, barges transport goods instead of long haul trucks, very green, lots of cows, sheep, horses and geese everywhere in fields. Small little brick houses with steep roofs and large windows with lots of flower boxes. The roads are narrow and everywhere roads for bicycles only, so do look left and right before crossing any road for bicycles coming and again for cars. It seems everyone has a bicycle, from the young to the old, an official statistic says that there are 6 bicycles for 7 people in Holland. It is the way to transport yourself, from home to work and for shopping or visiting friends and family. We have seen lots of large bicycle parking lots, around schools, government buildings and shops. We were told by our taxi driver to keep in mind bicycles have the right of way, pedestrians have narrow sidewalks. In Amsterdam you have to be very mindful of this fact when walking along a canal or street, pedestrians keep close to the buildings, then you have the bicycle road and then the car road but sometimes it is only bicycles and pedestrians who share a common area the street itself being too narrow for cars. You also have lots of tramways who pass in the middle of a busy road or have their own corridors, so listen for the bells as they approach to signal they are coming. What we saw was basically an understanding amongst the people, everyone really, you have to share the road and be civic minded. Civics as the basis for democracy in a small country.

On our final leg into Amsterdam on the ICE train, the announcements were in Dutch, German and English, always on a jovial tone, the conductor and the personnel of the DB Train believe that you are here to enjoy the ride so lets make it enjoyable. Am impressed by that sort of spirit, none of the baloney of what we see back home with the ''you are a valuable customer'' nonsense, when you know they don't mean it.

The weather is cloudy and sunny and warm but not hot and a little rain drizzle falls her and there but again you have to remember that we are on the seashore and subject to ever changing weather patterns because of winds and currents. The people seem not to pay too much attention to it all.

We are staying on Brouwer Gracht (canal) at the intersection with the Singel canal, all the buildings in the area are at least 400 years old, all brick with large windows because this is the only way you can move furniture or goods in or out. The staircase in the 3 floor building where we live is so steep about 80 to 85 degree angle, we needed help to get our suitcases up, though they are not large by any means. You have to climb the stairs sideways to gain a good footing on each step and grab the handrail to steady yourself, but that is Amsterdam standard feature in buildings.

There are lots of shops selling food and cheese and drinks of course, so many restaurants for all budgets. We visited one shop where all they sold was Dutch cheese or KAAS as it is called, of various types and flavours, from the famous Gouda to others with names I cannot remember, all good I am sure a beautiful display.

cheese shop on several floors

Kaas huis, cheese house

Tomorrow we will explore some more, take a boat on the canals and visit the RIJKSMUSEUM.

the museum is under renovation until 2013 but can still be visited in part.

Tomorrow Frankfurt and then Amsterdam

Tomorrow Sidd, W and I fly to Frankfurt for our holiday cruise on the Baltic. Sidd is a world traveller, he has been to many odd and strange places and now he is embarking on a new adventure.

Sidd has packed his bag and he is ready. So stay tuned for much more details. Nicky and Nora are gone to summer camp in Greely, boating is not for them, they could not see the point, no squirrels on board to chase around. I did not mention the non-stop buffet, I know they would just love a bit of roast beef and some turkey and all kinds of other good things.